Auteur(s) / Author(s)

Affiliation(s) du ou des auteurs / Author(s) Affiliation(s)

Résumé / Abstract

Described the skeleton and evaluated the form, size and ecological niche of Malpaisomys insularis, an extinct rodent of the Canary Islands. The lava mouse was a generalized murid rodent with a head and body length of about 110 mm and a slightly shorter tail. Fore and hind limbs exhibit some adapatations for climbing, a favourable condition in its main habitat, the malpaís. There is a notable convergence in skeletal proportions between the lava mouse, the rock mouse (Apodemus mystacinus), the Galapagos rice rat (Nesoryzomys narboroughi), and other petricolic rodents which share(d) a similar creviscular habitat. The reasons for the extinction of Malpaisomys remain obscure. Data from Fuerteventura show that house mice arrived shortly before 2000 B. P. ; from that time on to present a population decline of Malpaisomys and a contemporaneous increase of Mus is documented